Citizen Lab, CQC's public participation online forum
When the Care Quality Commission published its new strategy in spring, one of its ambitions was that its work would be driven by people’s needs and experiences.
The regulator said it wanted to focus on what’s important to people and communities who use the services the CQC regulates, rather than how providers want to deliver services.
The CQC wants to work in partnership with people who use services. If you’re interested in influencing the work the CQC does, you can join Citizen Lab, an online platform where the public can get involved and share ideas on its work.
If you want to raise specific concerns about care, you can tell us, and we can tell the CQC through our Declare Your Care programme. Our partnership with the CQC means we're able to pass on the information you provide to us, whether this is a positive example of great health or social care you've received, or of a troubling experience you or your family have had.
NHS England proposes new mental health access standards
The NHS England is set to introduce five new waiting time guarantees in mental health services.
The proposals could ensure that patients requiring urgent care will be seen by community mental health crisis teams within 24 hours of referral, with the most urgent getting help within four hours. Mental health liaison services for those who end up in A&E departments would also be rolled out across England.
The NHS is consulting on the new standards, which have been piloted by mental health providers in collaboration with acute NHS trusts. They are part of overall service expansion and improvement for mental health outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan. They have the support of organisations such as Rethink Mental Illness, Mind, Healthwatch England and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
The proposed new standards are:
For an ‘urgent’ referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within 24 hours from referral, across all ages
For a ‘very urgent’ referral to a community based mental health crisis service, a patient should be seen within four hours from referral, for all age groups
Patients referred from Accident and Emergency should be seen face to face within one hour, by mental health liaison or children and young people‘s equivalent service
Children, young people and their families/carers presenting to community-based mental health services, should start to receive care within four weeks from referral. This may involve immediate advice, support or a brief intervention, help to access another more appropriate service, the start of a longer-term intervention or agreement about a patient care plan, or the start of a specialist assessment that may take longer and,
Adults and older adults presenting to community-based mental health services should start to receive help within four weeks from referral. This may involve the start of a therapeutic intervention or a social intervention, or agreement about a patient care plan.
Responses can be submitted through the consultation form on the NHS England website or by email to England.reviewofstandards@nhs.net. The consultation period ends on 1 September 2021.
NHS data strategy: welcome but needs patient partnership to succeed
NHSX’s consultation into its data strategy closes today, and in our response we support its aims.
It is an ambitious strategy that will require substantial resource, in terms of funding and personnel. It will also require effective leadership nationally and locally. And, if it is to deliver effectively for patients, it will need to be delivered in partnership with them: it must empower them in relation to their own data, act in response to their input about their needs and views, and involve them as much as possible in decisions about systems and initiatives.
Our complete response is available on our website.
There’s still time to find out more about our lived experience advisory panel – LEAP – and think about joining it.
The panel will work with us to help us better understand the needs of patients. It is a significant part of the work we are beginning in our patient partnership work.
The panel will be made up of ten people. We’re looking for people who have experience of:
Homelessness
The asylum system
Living in a rural or inner-city area.
Or people who:
Consider themselves disabled
Have a sensory impairment or a learning disability
Are neuroatypical
Are a carer for a family member.
Or people from the following communities:
Black, Asian & minority ethnic
Gypsy / traveller
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans.
The group will convene for the first time in September and will meet monthly until January 2022, over Zoom.
If you are interested in joining the panel, you can contact Sarah, our new Head of Patient Partnership at Sarah.Tilsed@patients-association.org.uk and she will tell you how to apply. Or you can use the application form that is on our website.
The closing date for all applications is 13 August 2021, so make sure to get in touch before then. But please note: there are only ten places on the panel, and we are looking build a group that is truly diverse, so please don’t feel left our if you’re not selected – we’ve plenty of opportunities for you to share your opinions with us in other ways.
From the helpline
Unable to see mum, even after 'freedom day'
Susan* lives in England and called our free helpline to get advice about visiting her mother, Dorothy, in her care home.
Despite the lifting of all COVID-19 precautions on 19th July, Dorothy’s care home is still very reluctant to have people visit residents. Susan told the adviser that the care home only allows visits by appointment every 20 days or so, which she doesn’t find unacceptable.
Susan has spoken to the care home manager who has refused to ease visiting restrictions and explained that it was company policy for visitors to make appointments. Susan very much wants to see her mum more frequently and for her sons to see their grandmother, who they’ve not seen since the start of the pandemic.
Our adviser told Susan to ask the manager for the company’s visitors policy and to let the Care Quality Commission know about the problems she’s having trying to visit her mother as often as she would like.
Our adviser also pointed that the care home may be in breach of her mother's human rights and that Susan could get in touch with the Equality Advice and Support service (EASS) for advice about how to make a complaint.
* Name changed for privacy.
To share your experiences with our helpline team, call 0800 3457115 between 9.30am and 5pm on weekdays or email helpline@patients-association.org.uk. See our website for more ways to get in touch.
Our purpose is to ensure that everybody can access and benefit from the health and care they need to live well, by ensuring that services are designed and delivered through equal partnership with patients.
Our strategic focus for 2021-25 is patient partnership in the design and delivery of health and care services.
We are a registered charity raising all our own funds. If you'd like to support our work for all patients and make a difference, please donate or consider making a regular donation. Thank you.
The Patients Association is a registered charity in England and Wales (1006733). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (02620761)
Registered address: P Block, Northwick Park Hospital, The North West Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 3YJ
